


The First to Twenty-One

by DjDangerLove



Series: Tarlos March Madness [12]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, that's all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 07:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DjDangerLove/pseuds/DjDangerLove
Summary: “Seriously?” TK questions as he catches the racket Carlos tosses him while walking across the lawn. “Badminton?”“Ever played?”“Not enough to ownrackets,” TK replies, taking up the spot that Carlos points with his racket putting them a good distance apart. “You’re not about to pull out a net are you?”Or: Carlos and TK play badminton
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Tarlos March Madness [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189232
Comments: 11
Kudos: 158





	The First to Twenty-One

**Author's Note:**

> Tarlos March Madness #12 of 31

The first week Austin, Texas decides to stay a warm seventy degrees at dusk, Carlos and TK choose to have dinner out on the back patio the one night their schedules line up. It’s a casual affair, quiet except for the neighbors down the street mowing their lawn and the crickets singing along to the oncoming night. 

Two rows of string lights illuminate the patio, casting their extra cheese pizza and the five hundred piece puzzle they are working in a golden glow. TK slots an end piece in place to the side he’s working on while sipping on his iced tea. He takes note of Carlos making a connection between five pieces, his face pinched in concentration as he searches for another. TK places his sweating glass on the table with a clink, wiping the condensation on his shorts before digging back through the pile of pieces in front of him.

Puzzles aren’t exactly TK’s cup of tea, having little ability to sit still long enough to finish one. However, when Carlos suggested it, piggybacking the idea on top of ordering in and relaxing out back on the patio, he found himself unable to deny his boyfriend the lazy night he clearly wanted. Despite the way he bounces his leg under the table, he’s actually enjoying it far more than he thought he would. 

He finds another end piece in the pile, but can’t find where to place it so he drops it down on the table with a sigh. Carlos doesn’t move except for sifting through his own pieces, but asks, “Having trouble?”

“No,” TK replies even though he reaches for another slice of pizza just to give himself something to do besides trying to find the one piece that alludes him. His stomach rolls at the first bite, so he nibbles on the end of it before placing it on his plate. “How’s your side coming along?”

Carlos leans back from the table to reveal the progress he’s made, looking over at TK’s significantly less put together side with a knowing grin. “You don’t like puzzles, do you?”

TK stills his leg under the table, glancing down to compare his work to Carlos’ and decides there’s no denying the truth. “Sorry.”

Carlos laughs while sipping on his beer. “Why didn’t you just say so? We could’ve done something else.”

“You had the whole thing planned when you walked in the door. I wasn’t going to say no,” TK answers, going back to sifting through the pieces on the table until Carlos’ hand wraps around his and the man kisses the back of it.

“We can stop if you want,” Carlos says, eyes kind and smile genuine. TK debates whether or not to take him up on the offer a bit too long because Carlos chuckles and tugs on his hand until TK has no choice but to stand and cross the short distance between their chairs. 

Carlos pulls him down on his lap until he’s sitting sideways on top of him, the cop’s arms secured around his waist. Carlos smiles between TK’s hands that come up to cup his face. “It wasn’t my intention to kill you with boredom.”

“It’s not that,” TK shakes his head as he runs a hand through Carlos’ loose curls. “I’ve just never been able to sit still long enough to finish one. It drove my mom crazy when I was kid. She used to say if I didn’t finish my homework, she would make me put one of her thousand piece puzzles together.” 

Carlos rests his forehead against TK’s chest burying his laugh in his shirt. “I’ll be sure to remember that punishment the next time you do something unnecessarily dangerous.”

“What makes you think I have to listen to you?” TK teases, pushing Carlos away from him as if truly offended. 

“Well…I am an officer of the law.”

“I think I’d rather you arrest me then,” TK winks. 

“That can be arranged,” Carlos growls playfully as he nips at TK’s shoulder before twisting him around like he’s going to place his arms behind his back. TK yelps and jumps from his lap, circling the table to get out of reach completely. 

Carlos rolls his eyes at his dramatics, then looks back down at their puzzle with a sigh. He had been enjoying the relaxing task of piecing it together, but TK’s leg had bounced the entire time in excess energy and it made Carlos a bit tense. 

“How about we do something different?”

“Like what?”

The sun was setting quickly, but the lawn was still lit by the string lights and what was left of dusk. It was too perfect to go back inside so he held up his finger, silently telling TK to wait there as he ducked back inside. A few minutes later he came back out with two rackets and a birdie. 

“Seriously?” TK questions as he catches the racket Carlos tosses him while walking across the lawn. “Badminton?”

“Ever played?” 

“Not enough to own _rackets_ ,” TK replies, taking up the spot that Carlos points with his racket putting them a good distance apart. “You’re not about to pull out a net are you?”

Carlos rolls his eyes. “You wanna go back to the puzzle?”

“No,” TK answers honestly, and if Carlos laughs because of how quick he said it or the way he bounces on his feet in a hint of excitement then so be it. 

“First one to twenty-one,” Carlos decides the goal then points to the porch steps to the right of him. “The line can be from the steps. That’s about middle.”

TK flips the racket his hand. “You’re going down, Reyes,” he says before Carlos serves the birdie with a toss up and a swing of his racket. TK makes a loud swoosh sound with his and catches nothing but air. The birdie bounces on the ground behind him. 

Carlos has the nerve to cackle. 

TK glares at him, doing his best not to think about how damn attractive Carlos is standing in the gleam of the porch lights despite the smug grin on his face. TK serves the birdie and purposefully spikes it just across the imaginary line before Carlos can start forward. 

“Oh, you’re gonna play like that, huh?”  
“I have no idea what you mean,” TK feigns innocence with a dramatic shrug of his shoulders as Carlos bends down to pick up the birdie. 

Carlos tosses it up in the air and smacks it to TK’s right knowing it’ll be harder for him to reach since he’s left handed. TK tips it, but it doesn’t make it across the line for a point. 

“You did that on purpose.”

Carlos mocks him by doing the exact same shrug TK had done earlier with a, “I surely have no idea what you mean,” in a high pitched voice. 

“Maybe we should go back to the puzzle,” TK suggests before grinning wickedly. “You know, before you get your feelings hurt.”

“Says the guy who is currently losing.”

“Mmkay, just remember you asked for it,” TK says then tosses up the birdie and serves it to Carlos a bit too perfectly. His boyfriend hits it back to him a bit to the left, but TK makes it there with a quick step and launches it right back. Carlos has to backtrack a bit but manages to smack it back to TK over his head. TK gets his racket under it just before it hits the ground, but he has to slide in the grass on his belly. The grass stains on his t-shirt are totally worth it as he watches the birdie bounce on the ground on Carlos’ side of their makeshift court. 

TK hops to his feet, brushing blades of grass off his front and giving a celebratory “Whoop!” as he realizes he tied the game. Carlos doesn’t give him time for anything else as he serves it deep and TK barely manages to get it with his racket. It falls short of the line though and the point goes to Carlos. 

The game continues, both of them taking more cheap shots and delighting in the playful rise they get from the other until the score lands even at twenty to twenty.

“Next point wins,” Carlos announces, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat off his forehead by pulling the neck of his t-shirt up to run across it. TK nods once, stance serious as he waits for Carlos to serve. They manage to keep a steady streak of hitting it back and forth, hearts pounding harder the longer it goes on. But Carlos realizes he’s screwed when he has to rush forward just to get underneath it and ends up serving it straight to TK. He knows the man is going to launch it over his head and he’s too off balance to turn around quick enough to get it.

So, he plays dirty and falls to the ground with yelp and stays there. Making sure to keep one eye on TK, he sees the moment that TK registers what happened and instead of smacking the birdie served directly to him, he drops his racket with a, “Shit!” and runs to Carlos. Carlos rolls on his side with a fake groan, trying to keep his shoulders from shaking with laughter as he feels TK drop beside him with hands pushing at him to roll over on his back. 

“Carlos?! Are you okay?”

And yeah, maybe that was not the best decision Carlos has ever made, but he rolls onto his back with a victorious grin. 

“Wha-“ TK starts to ask, face twisted in confusion until it hits him and then he punches Carlos in the shoulder. Hard. “You’re an asshole! I thought you were actually hurt!” 

Carlos laughs as he grabs TK around the waist and pulls him down on top of him. His boyfriend tries to keep his composure, trying to hold on to his anger by putting up a fight against the hold, but Carlos blows a raspberry against his neck and it dissolves as quickly as it came. 

“I hate you,” comes on the back of a laugh and TK rests his forehead on Carlos’ heaving chest. Carlos kisses the top of his head and murmurs, “I hate you so much, too,” into his hair before pushing at TK’s shoulders to get him to rise up.

“Alright, do over then. Next point wins.”

“Uh no,” TK deadpans, then hops up to his feet. “Absolutely not. I win by default. You cheated!”

“Funny,” Carlos comments while standing to brush grass off his clothes. “I distinctly remember you winning at Monopoly the other night even though you _accidentally_ charged every one an extra one hundred dollars on one of your properties for the last half of the game.”

“Oh, Babe,” TK sighs, stepping forward and laying a hand at the side of Carlos’ head. “I think you actually did fall and hurt yourself. Must have hit your head, because you’re not making any sense.”

“Uh huh,” Carlos swats TK’s hand away and smacks him on the ass with his racket once he picks it up. “You win this time, Tiger.”

TK celebrates with an absurd victory dance causing Carlos to roll his eyes and head for the house. 

“Hey, wait!” TK calls out once Carlos gets to the door. “What do I get for winning?”

Carlos quirks a seductive eyebrow and tilts his head toward the house. “Come inside and I’ll show you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos are appreciated. Comments are food.  
> Find me on tumblr @ DjDangerLove


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